This
is done with the greatest propriety, for the Cid seems to be the
proper centre of Spanish legendary poetry. The Iliad, the
Nibelungen, the Cid, the Robin Hood Ballads, Frithiof's Saga, (for
the last also depends for its merit on its fidelity to the legend,)
are five admirable collections of early popular poetry of so many
nations; and with whatever difference of form, they possess strong
mutual resemblances, chiefly apparent in the spirit which they
communicate to the reader, of health, vigor, cheerfulness, and good
hope. In this day of reprinting and of restoration, we hope that
Southey's Chronicle of the Cid, which is a kind of "Harmony of the
Gospels" of the Spanish Romance, may be republished in a volume of
convenient size. That is a strong book, and makes lovers and
admirers of "My Cid, the Perfect one, who was born in a fortunate
hour." Its traits of heroism and bursts of simple emotion, once read,
can never be forgotten; "I am not a man to be besieged;" and "God!
What a glad man was the Cid on that day," and many the like words
still ring in our ears. The Cortes at Toledo, where judgment was
given between the Cid and his sons-in-law, is one of the strongest
dramatic scenes in literature.
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